Has anyone ever asked and gotten an answer about what in the name of all that's holy and precious in this woeful world the Yanks are doing with Phil Hughes?

I mean, what is the official line on his under-use? Somehow they are killing two birds that ought not be killed with one stone by not pitching him as much as they could and leaving him ill-prepared to be a starter next season.

[5] I used to ask, but first it annoyed others (apparently) and then it just depressed. My brother summed it up when we attended a game together recently. I said something like " I would love to see Hughes talent more fully exploited," and bro' responded "that's not going to happen until he's playing for another team."

[18] Mattpat's actually been doing that for awhile now. is it 13, they said 12? who knows, maybe someone's number is to tie and the other to pass. either way, i think he gets to 3,000 in his next at-bat!!! ; )

[22] No thunder here, just a steady downpour that started 30 minutes ago. Since the weather patterns normally run west to east (with an ever so slight south to north tilt), I'd say you're going to have rain the rest of the day and night over yonder.

Made it to the game yesterday, the ballpark was nicer than anticipated. I've heard complaints about the sound, but the only time the music was really at obnoxious levels was during the "applause-o-meter" portion of the game, where they were trying to get the crowd hyped

What's wrong with Halladay? He has "struggled" since the deadline. The AL Cy Young race is really widening. Greinke should be the clear leader, but his record will cost him votes. King Felix might be the leader right now, but CC could really make a run if he keeps lowering his ERA and winning games.

yeah, i mean i fully understand the innings cap, but don't they look at pitch count and "stressful" pitch counts? i think Joba shoulda pitched one more. but maybe they're looking at Joba for 3, Ace for 3, then see where we are for the back end of the game...

[69] It's kind of subjective to differentiate between stressful and non-stressful pitch counts. They can barely figure things out now, so I can't see adding that extra layer of complication. Besides, I think the early exit of Joba increases the chances of winning, assuming Joe manages the pen properly, which I am not too confident about.

[70] They still have a postive differential and that was even greater before their recent swoon. They aren't a bad team by any stretch, but when you watch their games now, it seems like the hitters are just up there to swing if it's close.

I know this has already been said and is obvious, but it's quite annoying that Joba pitched only three innings. Four for him, three for Ace (or even four if he's as efficient as he's been so far), and you're down to an inning or two, which could be Robertson if the game isn't close or Hughes and Mo if it is.
Seems so obvious. There must be some secret we aren't privy to.

[86] I actually like Joba going three, both in terms of maintaining his innings limit and giving the Yanks the best chance to win. I have more confidence allocating the extra inning to Aceves to Hughes than to Joba.

[102] I kind of agree with that qualification. Having said that, I've already made note of the fact he is pitching against the Yankees this Friday and don't feel too confident about that game, especially with Joba facing him.

[108] The obvious answer is no, you let Hughes go 2 and have Mo close it out. Instead, what will happen is Ace will start the inning and Marte/Coke will back him up, which will put the game in needless jeopardy.

[121] it went well, thanks man! of course, i'm an unhealthy critic, so i was displeased with a lot of the performance. but having to perform music at that insanely high level after a 7-year layoff, i'd say we did pretty well, overall. we have a ton of work to do and we'd like to keep it together and play more. we'll see.

we had a blast though, it was a ton o' fun. and at the end of the night, we got to play some old Frank Zappa tunes with FZ's guitarist, so that was quite an honor!!! : )

[127] i had a 1-tune gig 2 years ago. it was awesome! i got paid to learn a song (easy, didn't even need to chart it), then got paid for a full gig to perform the one tune. plus, there was backline set up, so there was a drumkit there - i only had to bring my sticks. more bonuses: the venue was close to my house, it was non-smoking and i ended up dating the singer soon thereafter!!!

If you get through the inning, it looks nice to make all these chess moves. But, if this game ends up tied, the Yankees could be looking at extra innings with only Coke and Bruney available (assuming Gaudin is out after yesterday).

[131] i think so! i hate knowing about that stuff, so nobody tells me. i believe there's audio of everything - our set and the set with the Zappa guy and his bassist. i believe there was video of that last set, but the audio on it was brutal. i've been sent some audio links, but am holding out to receive a CD of the night. i hope i get it soon. i'll be able to assess our performance better then...

i imagine we'll have stuff up on the website at some point in the coming months...

Seems like Girardi is holding tryouts in these games. He is passing up a chance to lock this game down with Hughes. With a month left to go, that's inexcusable. In yet another game, Girardi's poor managing has placed the Yankees in a poorer position to win a game. That's not the job of the manager.

Now I have no good story about what Girardi is up to. If this were an audition, obvious Robertson would be permitted to face Nix. If it's a matter of trying to win the game, then the Bullpen Roulette is foolish.

[150] no, it WAS taped!!! in fact, they used MY Zoom H4 recording device. it's just outta sight from me. apparently there were other people in the audience that taped it and there may have been a little video, but i'm not to know of those things. we should, at least, have a good solid CD of the night. i'm not sure if the house recorded it. i do know the sound in there was pretty amazing!

the stage was waaaay too dark for me though and i missed a lot of shit on my kit b/c of it. i was none to pleased. i had them re-arrange some lights midway thru the set. the kit i play for that Fusion trio, hasn't been taken outta my studio in YEARS, so i'm not used to having it on stage right now. my setup wasn't exactly perfect and i paid for it in a few places... : (

Great hit by Melky but really, can you let him get away with walking out of the box and almost getting thrown out at 2nd? I seriously take him to task for that. A play like that can cost a game.... and in the PS, can cost you the whole show (see Giambi not sliding, flip play).

OK, this is gross but interesting. I was out earlier mowing the lawn and sipping a coke. Later on I got a bad case of heartburn, even 2 Pepcid Completes couldn't stop it. Now I just vomited. There was a bee in it. So that's what my heartburn was.

I didn't get to see the game today, but from the boxscore, I have but one question: how come *today* Hughes was allowed to get four outs but not the day before yesterday when it might have spared us the unpredictability of extra innings?

Well, Robertson put two men on base with two out. Joe seemed to feel it wasn't very safe to let him pitch to another batter, so Phil got to nail the last man in the seventh. (The game was still close.)

Of course, this doesn't answer the part about why Hughes could get more than three outs on Friday. I don't know that one. (It must have something to do with the Magical Eighth Inning, but I couldn't tell you more than that.)

[254] I think there is a big difference between pulling CC in a jam in the 7th and pulling Robertson in a jam in the 7th. I didn't see Friday's game but at least on paper those are two totally different situations.